Isle of Wight Festival 2017

A round up of this year’s highlights.

Back in its early days – think 1969 – the Isle of Wight festival attracted the likes of Bob Dylan, The Who, The Doors and Jimi Hendrix. Achieving a major rise over a super short time, by 1970 it allegedly attracted 600,000 music lovers, forcing parliament to introduce a license fee for open-air events on the Isle of Wight that attracted more than 5,000 people and drawing a line under three years of psychedelic euphoria.

Since its hugely successful reincarnation in 2002, the festival has once again become accustomed to attracting the biggest names in the music biz, and 2017 was no exception. Friday night’s billing saw the likes of EDM master David Guetta, Run DMC and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man take to the main stage for a series of top-notch performances. Elsewhere Paradisia laid down some dreamy beats at the Big Top stage, where they were joined by the likes of Alison Moyet and Jonas Blue.

Indie-rock hexad Arcade Fire topped the bill on Saturday, following a day of performances from Texas, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Example, while Sunday offered the most eclectic mix on the line-up, featuring the likes of George Ezra, The Vamps and Clean Bandit before international icon Rod Steward closed proceedings, rounding off another superb year of musical talent, many a fruit cider and delightful weather.